Page 40 of Scars of the Sun
“Right now?” I squeaked, and my stomach gave another hearty growl.
The kiss Río gave me was a quick peck, and I exhaled, defeat calming my racing heart. “Yeah, lemme get you some food. Iamthe one who made you work up an appetite by tearing that ass up.”
I groaned from everything but pleasure, making him laugh at his own ridiculous ways. “What time is it anyway?”
“‘Bout ten, last time I checked.” He sat up, thighs spreading my hips, and I grumbled at how much I missed his body against mine. His glasses were adorably fogged and slowly clearing to reveal his black eyes full with amusement.
“Fine. And I’m ordering the most expensive thing.”
He laughed loudly and stepped off the low mattress, standing and giving me a full fucking show of his golden brown skin decorated with artwork that I now knew was of his own hand. His muscles were the sort that came from activity and his shifter heritage, not some purposeful workout regimen. His thighs and calves looked hard to the touch, his biceps and pecs well-defined without being bulky. I wasn’t small by any means, and I already knew that he was able to throw me around as if I weighednothing. In fact, he did it right then, bending at the waist to lift me gently to my feet.
A good bit of his hair had now fallen out of his bun and was fanning around his face and neck. With a light smack on my ass, he turned to a low dresser and fished out a pair of jeans. “I’d expect nothing else from my favorite rich girl. Let’s get you a good, greasy burger.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
RÍO
Ah, ah, ah, getting into a bit of a bind, aren’t you, Yoyo?
I knew that there was a dopey smile on my face, but I couldn’t get it to flatten. Nor could I completely ignore the familiar voice in my mind that steered me from trouble and dark places.
I took a pull from my straw, gulping down the Coke to chase away the saltiness of my fries. I squeezed my arm, pulling Ramona even closer to me. The lights inside the fast food restaurant were way too fucking bright for this time of night, so we were sitting at one of the tables outside instead. Cars stopped and started in the drive thru line, break lights painting Ramona and I with a ghostly wash of red.
“So, what was with the airhead act earlier, Princess?” I crunched on a fry and watched her face go sharp, but the little wrinkle between her brow showed her contemplating my question. Don’t get me wrong, submission in a… partner was exciting as fuck. Not that every shifter liked it, but my natural instincts lended very easily topindowntakefuck. Didn’t mean that I wanted her to give in to me in that way, though.
I took another slurp of my Coke to give her time. See if she was gonna keep up this end of the deal to be honest with me. Atleast when it came to how we acted with each other. Not like I could promise total honestly about my past.
Ramona avoided my eyes, looking at the line of cars before us. “I… I don’t,” she made a little growl of frustration and clenched her eyes, “You said the movie was a date.”
I tried to loosen the moment, “Didn’t say it was explicitly. But go ahead.” And, yeah, I was a bit of a hypocritical asshole.
Ramona munched on a handful of fries like they’d offended her personally. “I don’t know how to act on a date, okay?” She shrugged, but her lashes fluttered with nervousness as she continued to avoid my gaze. “Thought that’s what you’d want. That’s what I’ve observed men like, anyway.”
As sad and fucked up as that was, her words made me smile because, in a roundabout way, she’d let it slip that she wanted to please me. “Is that what your Pack Leader brother expects of his mate?”
She pursed her soft lips for a second, enough to distract me with the thought of them on mine again. “No. But. Sylvie isn’t… like me. She’s sweet and caring. I’ve been called a bitch enough to know that I don’t come off well sometimes. Guess I get that from my mom. And—” she sighed and picked her burger back up “—she’s different when my dad’s around.”
“Hm, okay, I get it now, Princess.” She’d initially grumbled about me sitting on the same bench as her instead of across or adjacent, but when I put my arm around her shoulders, she cuddled up to me so that our sides molded together. It was gross to eat so close to someone, she’d said, but now she was munching and slurping just fine. A small purr started involuntarily in my chest, and I let it be, offering her the reassurance of how I felt. Seemed like I couldn’tstopoffering her things. “I hope you know now that I don’t want you to be any way but yourself. Prickly and all.” She grumbled but didn’t pull away, and I took that as her agreement that I was right.
“Hey,” she took another bite of french fry and tilted her head up to face me, “what’s with the glasses?” For emphasis, she tapped the corner of the frames I’d had since I was fifteen.
I set my drink back down on the table and furrowed my brows at her. “Who knew you were so nosy, Princess.” She didn’t take the bait or back off, and maybe I hadn’t expected her to.
Give me credit for stalling. I rubbed my nose, jostling the frames a little while I relieved the pressure there. Mostly, I wore the contact lenses, only taking them out when I was turning in for the night in my human form. As soon as I’d tucked Ramona into my bed—because that’s apparently what I did now—I’d taken them out to give my eyes a break and gotten under the covers with her. Blame the fear of night terrors for my sitting up twenty minutes later with my sketchbook. Certainly not the churning in my chest and stomach that brought on a torrent of questions about what the hell I was doing.
I sighed, but it really wasn’t a hardship to give her more, “I got injured as a kid. Fucked up my eyesight.” Her lips turned down in understanding, but the pity was missing, just like I’d hoped.Thatwould surely crop up if I told her how I’d gotten hurt. Who’d ordered it and who’d carried it out. My back itched and my chest constricted until I took a deep breath, forcing them both to clear.
Ramona continued studying me with those honey eyes, and I had the dumbass thought that I would explain anything to her if she asked. “Even when you shift?”
Now, Yoyo, you never reveal your weak—“Yeah.”
She took a slurp of her Sprite, mapping the shape of my glasses with her eyes. “Is that hard?”
I shrugged, nudging her head at the same time and earning myself a beautiful scowl. “Got used to it.” It was disorienting and depressing as fuck when it’d first happened. When the rest of my body healed but it felt like I’d almost lost a limb. Shifters alreadyhad heightened senses, and to have my sight damaged enough to be weaker than the average human’s was a fucking ego hit, too.
But, I learned to manage, other senses got worked harder to compensate. “I like the glasses. Makes you look cute.” My head jerked back at Ramona’s deadpan assessment. Well, there was that, too.
“Cute?” She nodded, and I shook my head. “Gotta say, Princess, ever since I started getting tatted and pierced, nobody but my mom ever calls me cute.”